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Grandview Addis Ababa
Grandview Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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Other Projects by Bentel Associates International
Grandview Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Type
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2024
Grandview Addis is a mixed-use development with a vision to be a differentiator in the market in providing something not seen in Addis Ababa before. The Client’s brief was to create a landmark mixed-use building, comprising 700sqm of retail, 5 000sqm of office space, and 3 residential towers totalling 182 apartments, consisting of 24 studios, 47 1-bed, 50 2-bed, 56 3-bed and 5 Penthouse apartments. The basis for our design was influenced primarily by context, orientation, topography of the property, certain pre-determined site parameters and a sensitivity to how it responded to the surrounding urban fabric. In response, the design was multi-layered with an emphasis on horizontal progress of functionality. The project is located along Rwanda Street, in the Bole area of Addis Ababa, and approximately 1,5km from the Airport entrance. The site is extremely steep, sloping from the road down to the lowest point, which is on the edge of the floodplain of the adjacent river – one important design consideration was how we treat and respond to the fall across the site.
The design concept was to locate the office building along the highest point and main address along Rwanda Street, which is a two-way street with central median, addressing the road edge in a sculptural form and creating an active edge and entrance to the site. The architectural language of the office building is one of an iconic form, introducing a slightly ‘wavy’ and curvilinear form to articulate and provide a contrast between itself and the adjacent geometric residential buildings. The façade of the office building creates a texture by allowing the window openings to be arranged in an irregular rhythm, creating interest on the facades, and enhancing this interest with balconies at different intervals. On the pedestrian level, the office tower lower level has a street and public focus and is therefore highly transparent and engaging for the passerby and their perceptions of the public realm. This interface has a higher volume to accentuate the vertical circulation cores and to open up views to the retail and residential buildings beyond. The higher volume also celebrates the entrance onto the piazza with a porte cochere and drop-off for public transport.
LOCATION
Grandview Addis is located in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, which is the country’s commercial and cultural hub. The city boasts a well serviced transportation network connecting it to other major cities, a railway which runs to Djibouti, and a well-known international airport, which is fast becoming the aviation hub of Africa.
The specific project is located along Rwanda Street, in the Bole area of Addis Ababa, and only approximately 1,5km from the Airport entrance. The site is surrounded by numerous embassies and close to the commercial strip of Bole Road, which connects the airport to the centre of the city. Besides the various embassies, the neighbourhood is a mix of commercial and residential activity, and thus introducing a landmark mixed-use development such as the Grandview Addis, can only complement and enhance the rich and varied urban fabric which is Addis Ababa.
The site is entered from Rwanda Street, the highest point of the site, and has a steep fall to the northern edge boundary of the site, which is a floodplain of a large river. The east and west sides are bounded by numerous single and multiple residential dwellings.
CONCEPT
Slightly north of the office building is the piazza, which is framed by a split-level retail offering. The retail offering has been conceived around the piazza, which is one level down from the street edge and acts as the centre-piece for the public realm of the development.
The residential component is comprised of 182 apartments in three separates, but intrinsically linked, buildings ranging in height of 13 – 16 Storeys, and incorporating a different set of apartment types per buildings. This design was planned in a more geometric idiom, when compared to the commercial office building, and included for large overhangs to create shade and to articulate and provide depth to the façade.
The negative spaces between the buildings were designed to be landscaped and form the pedestrian interface between the fabric of the project. The landscape essentially consists of three main components, including the piazza (which is more hardscaped), the terraces spaces between the three residential buildings and the floodplain zone between the site boundary and the water’s edge (which is softer scaped). A communal pool and clubhouse is located between the 2-bed and 3-bed buildings.
The aim is for Grandview Addis to offer the public access to a unique new offering within the greater precinct and city fabric.
The basis for our design was influenced primarily by context, orientation, topography of the property, certain pre-determined site parameters and a sensitivity to how it responded to the surrounding urban fabric. In response, the design was multi-layered with an emphasis on horizontal progress of functionality. The architectural language of the office building is one of an iconic form, introducing a slightly ‘wavy’ and curvilinear form to articulate and provide a contrast between itself and the adjacent geometric residential buildings.
Externally the buildings have been designed in a modern, clean and simplistic aesthetic utilising a combination of concrete finishes, timber composite and aluminium louvres, plaster and paint and glazed curtain walls.
Natural lighting will be encouraged through the use of large apertures, whilst aluminium louvres will be used on the southern façade of the building, to enhance the building’s aesthetics and to reduce the glare and sunlight penetration.
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